Angelina Jolie has revealed she has had her ovaries and fallopian tubes removed after doctors detected possible signs of cancer.
The Oscar-winning actress has written about the procedure, which she had last week, in an opinion piece in the New York Times entitledDiary of a Surgery.
"It is not possible to remove all risk, and the fact is I remain prone to cancer," she writes.
She also had a double mastectomy in 2013 after it was found she had the faulty BRCA1 gene, which sharply increased the chance of her developing breast and ovarian cancer.
Jolie, who is married to actor Brad Pitt and has six children, also wrote about her decision to have that procedure.
She says having her ovaries and fallopian tubes removed was "a less complex surgery than the mastectomy, but its effects are more severe".
The operation, called laparoscopic bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy, brings on early menopause.
"Regardless of the hormone replacements I’m taking, I am now in menopause," Jolie writes.
"I will not be able to have any more children, and I expect some physical changes.
"But I feel at ease with whatever will come, not because I am strong but because this is a part of life. It is nothing to be feared."
"I went through what I imagine thousands of other women have felt.
"I told myself to stay calm, to be strong, and that I had no reason to think I wouldn’t live to see my children grow up and to meet my grandchildren."
"I feel feminine, and grounded in the choices I am making for myself and my family.I know my children will never have to say, 'Mom died of ovarian cancer'."Ovarian cancer is most common in women who have been through menopause, but it can affect women at any age.
Known as the silent killer, it is notoriously difficult to detect in the early stages when it is most responsive to treatment.
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